Happy 1st Birthday Leila!

Is anyone else completely shocked that it has been a year already? The day was really low-key because her actual family birthday party isn't until the 21st. Have I mentioned that it kinda sucks to have her birthday, our anniversary and Father's Day all the same week!? I shoulda planned this better....

We celebrated with an early morning photo shoot thanks to Jared and a pancake breakfast. The best part is she even ATE some of the pancakes. Win!

Yowza. I don't know where my kids learned this cheesy face!

Pancakes and blueberries, a birthday-girl's dream!

 Christian, being the big brother he is, even "helped" open her gift. He was pretty bummed we didn't put candles in her pancakes so he could blow them out. :)

Yay! Sippy cups!

Why yes, that is a pancake stuck to her lip

At age 1 Leila can clap, say Mama and Dada, dance, and is crawling like a mad woman. She likes to hold our fingers to cruise around, but probably won't walk for a couple more months. She is getting more confident and cruising around the furniture a little bit. I can now (FINALLY!) say that she is not exclusively breast fed. She doesn't love to eat, but is pretty good about eating a few bites of rice cereal or veggies a few times a day and we finally found a little veggie snack she actually gets excited about. She loves water and can drink from a straw which made me really excited. Leila can still sneeze on command, and makes the funniest cheesy face that brings a whole new meaning to the term "Ugly-Pretty" (see the photo shoot above if you don't know what I mean!). She loves to talk and babble and gets really excited when she hears any music. She also loves books and gets really excited when I read to her. Her favorite song is the theme song to "3rd Rock From the Sun". :) She loves her older brother and thinks he is hilarious...especially when he says the word "poop" (smh). At this point she still has a dairy allergy, but I am hoping she will grow out of it. . She has 12 teeth that have broken through with 2 more almost through and I think it is annoying and hilarious at the same time that someone with so many teeth refuses to use them! All in all she is healthy, happy and an absolute joy

Happy 1st Birthday, Leila! You are beautiful inside and out. I love your quick smile. I love your bright eyes. I love how you light up when you see me. I love that you are already a huge flirt, even though it will bring me trouble later! I love your deep husky voice and that you finally learned to growl. I love that you dance and clap your hands every time you hear music. I love that you take your time and are more cautious. I love (and hate!) that you do things at your own pace and refused to be rushed. You are strong and beautiful and I can't wait to see what the new year brings!

These are a few of my favorite things

Bedtime and Naptime and Bedtime and Naptime...

Just kidding

On our latest jaunt down to SoCal to play at Disneyland, Jared and I were talking about Christian and the cute things he says. Now that he is 3, his words are clearing up and he's losing some of our favorite mispronunciations. SAD! I wanted to write them down so we can always remember his cuteness.

Root-ba-yare - Rootbeer

Light-da-queen - Lightning McQueen

Valill-ya - Vanilla

Lellow - Yellow

Skip-choose - Scriptures

Sir - Sure
Fursday - Thursday
Vasania - Lasagna

And everyone's favorite....

Pop-si-yo - Popsicle

Hard to believe this is the same kid. I love my chatty, sweet, snuggle-bug!

11 Months!

Wow. I am in complete shock that Leila is almost 1. This year, especially the past 5 months, have just FLOWN by.

Leila is still a really happy and easy baby, for the most part. Eating is still a struggle, but the past few days have been better. She is eating some rice cereal at breakfast (about 1 Tbsp, but still, it's something!) and will usually have a couple of bites of baby food a couple of times throughout the day. It's hard because it takes a such a long time, but I am working to be patient and just enjoy the time with her.

She is getting much quicker with crawling and a little more adventurous. She loves to have me chase her around. She will giggle and try to go even faster. She is finally able to pull herself up and isn't quite cruising, but getting more comfortable standing on her own.

Her favorites:
Playing in Dora's food and water
Waving and clapping (she does it constantly)
Chewing on the rubber ducky her Auntie Beth gave her at Easter
Fake Sneezing
Making cheesey faces (what is with my kids!?) and scrunching her nose
Smiling at anyone who looks her way and quickly turning away like the flirt she is
"Talking Tom" or anyone who will copy the sounds she makes
Anything Christian does to make her laugh

Her voice is still low and sounds like a growl. She is starting to say things that sound close to mama and dada. In all of our food trials, we found out that she has an allergy to dairy (not just lactose intolerant, but actual rashes. Yay!) and I am hoping that she will outgrow that. *Fingers crossed* She is growing well and moving at her own pace, and that's all I care about.

Happy 11 Months Leila-girl. Love you and your sweet nature!

10 Months Already!

Happy 10 months to my baby girl! Time is definitely flying by and I have been so grateful to spend the last 2 months with my Leila girl!

These are just a few of my favorite shots as of late. Leila is growing quickly, but not nearly as quickly as she was (thank goodness!). She officially started crawling on April 1st, just a week before she hit 10 months. She still isn't a huge fan and will only crawl if she can get into mischief without me knowing or she is absolutely forced to. If it's the latter, she will protest the entire time by crying/whining/screaming. She is still my cautious, observant little one and I am okay with that. She likes to wait, watch, and take everything in before she makes a move. Although she likes to stand, she is definitely not pushing forward to walk and I imagine that it will be several more months before she takes those dreaded  first steps.

On the food-front, she still won't eat anything. I got her to try a few things and she did manage to pick up a wheat thin on her own and PUT IT IN HER MOUTH! This is huge for us. She didn't really eat it, but just the fact that she was willing to taste it is a step in the right direction. We did find out she has a food allergy though. Based on what she may have eaten it is probably dairy. The poor thing broke out in a HORRIBLE rash after eating either 1. the wheat thin 2. a carrot 3. licking rice (I don't think she actually ate any of that!) or 4. the lick of ice cream she got from face planting into an ice cream cone. The nurse's bet is on the ice cream. Yay!

All in all, she is happy, healthy and just a joy. I love her sweet nature and her quick smile. I love her deep voice and the raspy "fat boy" laugh she has. I love her big eyes and coy/flirty looks. I love my sweet girl. Happy 10 months!

Happy 9 Months to Leila and Happy Birthday to my 3 Year Old!

Whoa. I can't believe I have a 3 year old. When did this happen!? For Christian's birthday, it was pretty low-key. We got him an AWESOME Cars bike and Mickey Mouse helmet which he absolutely loved and blew up some balloons for him to play with. We went to Loomis Chinese for dinner and of course, got "frozen and yogurt" from Yogurtland, his favorite!

Sunday we had a family party. Enchiladas, beans and rice and then brownies and ice cream. He got completely spoiled, like usual, but it was such a fun time!

Christian has turned into such a sweet, caring, fun little boy. He is very polite and extremely conscientious of others and their needs. He loves to run, jump, ride his bike, blow bubbles, and is obsessed with puzzles. He talks....A LOT and has started to become interested in singing songs and doing modern dance...ie...hopping around like he's riding a horse. He loves beans and rice, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, burritos and tacos, fruit snacks, strawberry yogurt, and popsicles (pronounced pop-si-yos). He can count from 1-20 but likes to repeat 15 a few times if he does it without help. He knows his alphabet and can recognize each letter on sight. He is not interested in writing or drawing yet, but loves to paint with water colors. His current best friends are Ellie (she LOOOOOOVES him), Delilah (She tells her mom they are getting married), Elaine, Brooklyn, Adam and Aunt Jamie, Aby Sushi and Lightning McQueen. These are all according to him by the way :)

Leila is officially 9 months. She can clap, wave and pretend-sneeze on command (thanks for that Jared!). I can't go anywhere without people stopping us constantly to remark on how beautiful she is. I am worried she is going to be a vapid beauty queen or something. Girlfriend still won't eat and is THINKING about crawling. She will pull herself forward, get onto her knees and then immediately sprawl out. If she does get on her stomach she will push backward a bit, but she doesn't like to work too hard. She is still sweet, content and subtle. She is cautious and likes to watch others before making any kind of movement. She is already a huge flirt and has it down pat. She will catch your eye and wait for you to talk to her and then immediately bury her head in the shoulder of whomever is holding her, just to peek back at you and smile.

I love my kids. I love being a mom. It is freaking hard, but each day I am learning and growing and so grateful to be home. A big shout-out to my hardworking, handsome Mister. Jared I love you and I am having a blast. Thank you for all you do! XOXO

This quote rocked my world today

This quote rocked my world today

 "I actually attack the concept of happiness. The idea that - I don’t mind people being happy - but the idea that everything we do is part of the pursuit of happiness seems to me a really dangerous idea and has led to a contemporary disease in Western society, which is fear of sadness. It’s a really odd thing that we’re now seeing people saying “write down 3 things that made you happy today before you go to sleep”, and “cheer up” and “happiness is our birthright” and so on. We’re kind of teaching our kids that happiness is the default position - it’s rubbish. Wholeness is what we ought to be striving for and part of that is sadness, disappointment, frustration, failure; all of those things which make us who we are. Happiness and victory and fulfillment are nice little things that also happen to us, but they don’t teach us much. Everyone says we grow through pain and then as soon as they experience pain they say “Quick! Move on! Cheer up!” I’d like just for a year to have a moratorium on the word “happiness” and to replace it with the word “wholeness”. Ask yourself “is this contributing to my wholeness?” and if you’re having a bad day, it is."


For some reason, when I read this, it just spoke to me. I feel validated and...relieved. Continued happiness is a fallacy. We have to taste the bitter to appreciate the sweet. My new goal is to work toward wholeness. To not feel guilty or stuck just because I had a bad day. I want to recognize the bad days, embrace it and then let it sweeten the good days to come.

The Stretchy Pants Dialogue Begins

When I decided to be a stay at home mom, I joked with my friends about how I was going to refer to my time at home as the Stretchy Pants Dialogues. I have to tell you, there really is nothing better than not having to get up and dressed in professional clothes everyday. I could pretty much wear yoga pants almost every day and it is SO LIBERATING! Not saying I do wear them every day, but it is nice knowing I could :) 

Being at home has been going well. We are getting into more of a routine and everyone is becoming more accustomed to me being home ALL. DAY. LONG. It is not easy, but it is also really nice too. Here are some of my favorites from the past week:

Me: I love you, Buttercup

Christian: Don't call me Buttercup. You're a Buttercup. *Humph*

Leila learning to clap her hands

Jared having most of Valentine's Day off. He gave me a card and then surprised me by turning on "our" song and then dancing with me. It was very romantic and very un-Jared-like.

Christian climbing up on the bed and me telling him to come get dressed. His response? "No, mom, I gotta be CRAZY" and then jumping around, flailing his arms and shaking his head around like....well....like a crazy person. :)

A Progressive Dinner with friends for Valentine's Day.

Leila consistently taking Jared's glasses off with a very mischievous grin on her face and then flailing around like a chicken. Oh, and I can't forget her new trick...the tongue. She likes to stick it out and flick it around like a lizard. I will try and get a video.